Shaw AREVA MOX Services NUCLEAR SWORDS
INTO PLOUGHSHARES
www.areva.com
written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Daniel Finn Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC is more than half way through its contract to build a facility that will turn a large part of America’s nuclear heritage into clean energy to boost the nation’s future growth
NUCLEAR SWORD
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Shaw AREVA MOX Services
Shaw AREVA MOX Services
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obody was sorry when the finally decided to dispose of the plutonium cold war ended. The world by converting it into fuel for commercial seemed a safer place and a nuclear reactors. In 1999 NNSA signed a new generation started to grow contract with Shaw AREVA MOX Services, up without the ever-present a consortium of Shaw Group and the French threat of mutually assured destruction. That carbon-free energy specialist AREVA to generation has new worries to contend with design, build and operate a Mixed Oxide in the form of terrorism, economic meltdown (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility located on the and environmental degradation but these Savannah River Site (SRS), a 310 square mile are somewhat less immediate dangers. reservation near Aiken in South Carolina, Nevertheless the large nuclear arsenals that built in the 1950s to refine nuclear materials the major powers had amassed now presented under the management of the US Atomic problems of their own. In 1992 General Brent Energy Commission. The SRS was the Scowcroft, then National Security Advisor to ideal choice for locating the new facilities. President Bush, requested Among its advantages the National Academy of were high security levels, Sciences (NAS) to perform a skilled and experienced a study of the management workforce and the support and disposition options of local community interests in South Carolina. When for surplus weapon-usable the plant is completed, it plutonium to reduce the Footprint of danger that nuclear materials will employ around 1,000 the MOX facility might be stolen and find their people, with some 80 way into unprincipled hands. percent of the jobs requiring Under an agreement concluded in 2000 high school diplomas plus a two-year the USA and Russia each decided to eliminate degree. The company is working with local 34,000 tons of weapon-grade plutonium from colleges to set up training programs for high the defense programs of both the countries. school students to learn about education Plutonium has enormous energy value: one oportunities, with the prospect of having a gram contains more energy than two tons of secure job for 30 to 40 years. coal or one ton of crude oil. Depending on the The design of the MOX facility is based percentage of plutonium used, surplus U.S. on similar facilities operated by AREVA in weapons could make enough mixed oxide France, though adapted to meet the specific fuel to operate ten large (1,000 MW) nuclear requirements of United States nuclear safety practice. The rationale behind this is clear: plants for ten to 20 years. Based on NAS’s recommendation the France obtains more than 75 percent of National Nuclear Security Administration its power from nuclear plants, the highest (NNSA) considered a number of options but proportion in the world. Accordingly it
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Shaw AREVA MOX Services has more experience than Flowserve Corporation any other country when it Throughout the nuclear fuel cycle the ability to control comes to the management process streams in difficult or impossible locations of nuclear fuel for civil becomes increasingly necessary as the complexity purposes. AREVA’s MELOX of processes increases. For over 30 years Flowserve and La Hague plants Corporation has been providing innovative solutions to supply nuclear fuel to more tackle such issues as remote valve maintenance, remote valve control and flow stream analysis in many challenging than 30 reactors. nuclear applications. The 600,000 square-foot www.flowserve.com facility being built in South Carolina will be completed in 2016 and will be licensed for 20 years, with operations expected to continue well into the 2030s. It is made up of two main sections: aqueous polishing and fuel fabrication. Aqueous polishing is a chemical purification process to render weapons-grade plutonium oxide suitable for inclusion as a component of MOX fuel – the existing facilities at SRS for treating radioactive materials will be able to cope with all solid or liquid waste from this process. This is a robust process, refined by the nuclear industry in France over a 30-year period. The MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility will blend plutonium oxide (PuO2) with uranium oxide (UO2) powder to make a mixed oxide powder. This powder is milled to ensure uniform distribution of the plutonium, and to adjust the particle size of the MOX powder. The MOX powder is made into small pellets
“The company is working with local colleges to set up training programs for high school students”
about the size of a pencil eraser. The pellets are pressed into shape, sintered (baked at high temperatures) and ground to the required dimensions of approximately 1/3 inch in diameter and 4/10 inch in length. The finished pellets are loaded into fuel rods through an open end. An end plug is
then inserted into the open end of the fuel rod and the rod is welded shut. The fuel rods are inspected, decontaminated, and bundled together to form fuel assemblies. Each fuel assembly will contain 264 fuel rods and the assembly will then be prepared for transportation to a commercial reactor.
“In June 2012 the facility reached 10 million safe working hours without a lost workday�
Shaw AREVA MOX Services
Mixed oxide fuel will perform in a very similar manner to conventional uranium fuel currently used by nuclear utilities. The blended fuel is in the form of ceramic pellets, which are encased in metal rods and bundled in fuel assemblies. The fuel is then loaded and irradiated within the reactor in the same manner as uranium fuel. Clearly security is a priority, and the plant has been designed to meet the same safety standards as any United States-based nuclear reactor, while its location at the heart of the SRS renders it impenetrable to any foreseeable external threats. A Perimeter Intrusion Detection and Assessment System
will encircle the facility for additional protection, which will of course provide extra assurance for the local community. The community will be further reassured by the latest announcement on safety at the site – in June 2012 the facility reached 10 million safe working hours without a lost workday, a very significant milestone representing nearly two years of safe work during heavy construction involving approximately 2,800 workers. For more information about Shaw AREVA MOX Services visit: www.areva.com
Shaw AREVA MOX Services www.areva.com
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